Kat Timpf: Biden's FAA nominee had 'no idea' what he was talking about
'The Big Sunday Show' panelists discuss Biden's FAA nominee Phil Washington withdrawing his name from consideration after he struggled to answer basic questions during a Senate Commerce Committee.
"The Big Sunday Show" co-hosts Lisa Boothe, Charlie Hurt, Kat Timpf and Griff Jenkins reacted to reports President Biden’s pick to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Phil Washington, had withdrawn his nomination. The group agreed that the most remarkable thing about Washington's withdrawal was that he had the "decency to resign."
"He is the CEO of Denver International Airport. I can't think of what's scarier, the fact that he was the pick for the FAA or that he's the CEO of the Denver International Airport, and he knows nothing about aviation," Boothe said.
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Timpf stated that it’s not uncommon for people in government to make decisions without proper knowledge.
"I mean, how many people just an easy example would want to ban AR-15s who think it stands for ‘Assault Rifle 15,’ and they have no problem taking away rights from other people when they have no idea what they're even talking about," Timpf said.
The Metro board of directors announced on March 12, 2015 at MTA headquarters, the hire of new CEO Phil Washington, the general manager of Denver's transportation agency. ((Photo by Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
Hurt made the case that this is why "crazed ideologues" should not be in charge of things that matter, like transportation.
"This is why you don't put crazed ideologues in charge of things that actually matter. You know, they're great in a classroom setting where they can sort of, you know, spur debate and have conversation, but when you actually have to get planeloads or busloads or trainloads of people safely from one place to another, you're dealing with real things like physics and gravity and all of the things that can lead to disastrous results if these people are picking people based on their crazed ideology," Hurt said.
Jenkins echoed the sentiments of the group and pointed out that "political patronage" is often put before experience.
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Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 airplane (iStock)
"And in fact, with Mr. Washington, he had no prior aviation experience before 2021 when he became the CEO of Denver and so it's this political patronage rather than being there," Jenkins said.
According to Boothe, the news of Washington's withdrawal comes at a time when there have been an alarming number of near-misses and plane crashes at U.S. airports.
"This comes at a time when there's been a lot of near-misses, plane crashes as well. I mean, they've increased substantially since the Trump administration. I think something by 39, there have been 39 near airplane misses under the Biden administration, up 77% from the Trump administration," Boothe said.
Boothe also questioned why Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is more concerned with diversity in the transportation sector rather than safety.
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"I mean, Charlie you get the Biden administration, you know they're checking those diversity boxes. But as we pointed out, I mean, there have been potential plane crashes where people will die. So isn't that what they should care about?" Boothe asked.
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